INSECURITY RESPONSIBLE FOOD HIKE IN FOOD PRICES— ONITSHA TRADERS LAMENT

REPORTER: KEVIN EKEDIEGWU

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has called for the construction of ranches for cattle to ensure food security in the country.

The South East Zonal Coordinator of the Commission, Mr. Jude Akonam, made the call when he led a delegation on a fact-finding on the steady rise in the prices of foodstuff at Ose Market in Onitsha, Anambra State.

Mr. Akonam, who said the commission’s mandate was to ensure that the welfare of the Nigerian consumer, explained that Ose Market remained the hub of foodstuff in the zone.

The Zonal Coordinator called on the Federal Government to intervene in the area of security to enable the people and farmers to access their farms.

Mr. Akonam assured the traders that their findings would be submitted to the federal government for necessary actions.

In a speech, the Chairman of the Ose Market, Chief Ikechukwu Umeanozie, represented by his Secretary, Mr. Cyprain Oneyejekwe, identified insecurity and unstable economy as factors responsible for the continuous hike in the prices of foodstuff and its non availability across the country.

Chief Umeanozie was of the opinion that the federal government should be serious in the implementation of the findings from the market survey, as poor Nigerians were going through hell.

Some of the traders interviewed agreed that insecurity, unstable economy and climate change were some of the variables responsible for steady rise in prices of foodstuff in the country.

One of them, Mr. Emmanuel Ndubuisi, a grain dealer, pointed out that the prices of foodstuff had skyrocketed that poor Nigerians could not afford them.

Mr. Ndubuisi explained that a bag of beans was sold at N80,000.00 last December but now sold at N265,000.00; a bag of rice was sold at N70,000.00 before but now sold at N157,000.00 while a bag of groundnuts was sold at N70,000.00 and now cost N185,000.00.

Some of the traders pleaded with the Federal Government to urgently come to the aid of Nigerians as some of them were dying of hunger in the country.

EDITED BY CHUKWUBUIKE MADU